By Graham Hathway

Detroit Free Press Special Writer

Graham Hathway writes for the Red Wings blog Winging It In Motown. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. Read his column every Thursday here and contact him anytime at Amerinadian19@gmail.com.

The NHL's trade deadline has come and gone, and the Red Wings that take the ice in Phoenix tonight will be the same ones that played the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.

Many wondered whether the Wings would do anything to bolster their team. General manager Ken Holland told the world that he wouldn't be dealing for depth players, only impact players. After watching Jaromir Jagr go to Boston and Jay Bouwmeester head to St. Louis, Wednesday was quiet in Detroit. Holland chose to dance with the ones that brought him.

Naturally, there has been quite a bit of anger from the fan base regarding the lack of moves. Criticisms seem to fall into two categories:

2. Why didn't the Wings trade some players who don't appear to fit in with their long-term plans (i.e. Ian White, Valtteri Filppula)?

The first point is easy to answer: The price was too high. Bouwmeester would have cost the Red Wings their first-round draft pick, something they were not willing to give up. Yandle's reported asking price was a first-round pick plus two high-impact forwards. Gaborik's return would have been, roughly, Filppula, Jordin Tootoo and Danny DeKeyser. Jason Pominville was worth the equivalent of Petr Mrazek, Tomas Tatar, a first-rounder and a second-rounder.

None of the players moved yesterday was going to make the Wings significantly better, for the price they would have paid. Only Bouwmeester would have fit in the Wings' long-term plans, but taking on his salary would have meant some tough decisions concerning other players, especially with the salary cap going down next year. Given that the team is several pieces away from being a contender, overpaying for non-superstars isn't a wise course of action.

The second complaint is a little tougher to explain, because we saw the San Jose Sharks move some players without weakening their team -- and gain some draft picks at the same time.

Two Wings were mentioned as possible trading chips: White and Filppula. White has been a healthy scratch a number of times, he's a right-handed shot who can play on the power play, and defensemen always seem to be coveted at the deadline. Watching Douglas Murray, Scott Hannan and Jordan Leopold get moved for picks -- and knowing that White is better than all of them -- makes people wonder whether the Wings could have gotten something for a player who is a free agent at the end of the season and not likely to be re-signed.

Filppula is a strong two-way forward who is going to become a free agent and reportedly is looking for a significant raise next season. He could have been an attractive piece in a package to land a better player or he could have been moved to obtain prospects and picks.

Personally, I'm not that concerned about the lack of trades made by Detroit. I would have liked to have seen some but only if they were going to benefit the team now and in the future. Getting a rental player like Jagr might help for this year, but he would not and should not be a part of the Wings next year.

I'm looking at a quote Holland gave yesterday and storing it in the back of my mind. When questioned about the lack of moves, here's what he said:

"We’re trying to compete, we’re trying to rebuild, reload,'' Holland said. "You look at the moment in time. I can’t look at the moment in time. I have to look at what we’ve got and where I think we can go over the next few years, the age of the roster, who’s going to be here for a while.''

"If we need forwards, Riley Sheahan deserves a chance, Landon Ferraro, we’ve got Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist, Joakim Andersson, Damien Brunner. Certainly, on defense, with the signing of Danny DeKeyser and the play of Lashoff and Kindl, we think the young kids could be real good depth players for us.''

It's the first acknowledgment that a youth movement is coming, which means it's time to dust off the "rebuild" word. We could be seeing it a lot.

And that's not a bad thing. But this off-season is where we see whether the Wings are truly committed to a youth movement or whether we're going to see a team similar to this year's, with retreads and past-their-prime veterans occupying the important spots. I think this team has a ways to go to incorporate the younger players into the lineup, but this year has been a start, and the results have been better than expected.

Therefore, I'm not judging Holland's lack of moves yet. But if the bigger plan involves the same kind of moves we've seen the last couple of years, Wednesday's inaction is going to look like a glaring mistake.